building membership programs that increase retention & cash flow 💸 | Retention Advisor @ Subscribfy

I'm Elena, and I'm building go-to-market motion at Subscribfy from the ground up.

I grew up in Russia and came to the US at 16 years old on a tennis scholarship to Michigan State. After college, I found my way into ecomm and haven't looked back.

Today, I'm the founding Head of GTM at Subscribfy. We're taking the membership technology our founders built to scale Adore Me to $300M, and making it accessible to Shopify merchants who want to increase customer lifetime value and build predictable revenue.

What we do: 

Help ecomm brands turn one-time buyers into members. We build subscription programs that actually work. Better retention, higher LTV, and customers who stick around.

What I do: 

As the first non-tech hire, I built our entire go-to-market function. I spend my days talking to Shopify founders about customer retention and showing them how membership models can transform their business. I also get to build and lead our growing team.

Before Subscribfy, I was in ecomm sales at TryNow (Try Before You Buy tech) and spent 6+ years at Mommy Nearest working with brands targeting millennial parents.

I love talking about: ecomm strategy, subscription models, early-stage startup life, tennis, padel, how difficult golf is.

Let's connect if you're in the ecomm space or thinking about membership programs for your brand.

I had my first ever panic attack earlier this year. On a plane coming back from Shoptalk...

I don't love talking about it.

But that moment is what finally pushed me to take my mental health seriously.

Here’s the ironic part:
🥇 We had our biggest quarter to date at Subscribfy.
🥇 We signed and launched with our biggest client at the time, one I personally sourced via cold outbound.
🥇 It was my first Shoptalk. The largest, loudest, most electric event in e-commerce.
🥇 I was about to go on a gorgeous European vacation.
🥇 My personal life? Everything I ever wanted.

And yet there I was, shaking in my plane seat.

I’m not usually emotional. I am Russian, my default mode is sarcasm, bottling things inside, and moving on. 💪🐻 

But that day, my body called my bluff.

Maybe it was the chaos of Q1.
Maybe it was flight anxiety.
Maybe it was Vegas.
(Maybe it was staying at the Luxor and flying Spirit. Honestly, that combo would break anyone.)

Maybe it was an overwhelmingly large event on almost no sleep.
Whatever it was, it sucked and I never wanted to feel that again.

I’m fine today. My tribe is awesome. Therapy is a must. Habits are changing slowly.

These last few weeks, I can see the level the anxiety and stress of my clients, prospects, connections in the DTC space, it's palpable. And I feel for them.

If you can - go outside, take a breath, look at some trees, this will pass.

It's all going to be alright ❤️ 🫶

Elena Ivanova

building best-in-class custom membership systems for Shopify merchants 🚀 | Founding Head of GTM @ Subscribfy

Nailboo just launched their new paid membership: The Boo Club 💅

We’ve been working with their team since spring on loyalty. And now, this next step takes it to a whole new level.

Why I love this launch?

Because it brings a subscription model to a category where product subscriptions don’t really work.

Nobody subscribes to the same nail color every month. You collect. You match it to your outfit, to the season, to your mood.

So a model where a shopper is charged monthly in exchange for store credit that can be spent throughout the catalog is a perfect fit with how customer shops Nailboo.

Huge shoutout to Yenney Curbelo and Razvan Romanescu and their whole team. True pros who know their shopper inside out and execute like ninjas. 🥷 ⚡️

The new era of Subscribfy is coming! 💚🚀

Everyone has a dark side. I call mine the sales demon 👹 
*shoutout to Sean Wendt for helping me coin the term.

We’ve all met a sales demon.

👹 This creature says things like “just curious…” followed by a question nobody on Earth is curious about.

👹 Goes on 5-minute monologues about a feature no one asked for.

👹 Interrupts buyers.

👹 Skips discovery.

👹 Completely ignores time management of the call

In my defense… my personal brand of sales demon only comes out when I’m VERY excited about the conversation.

And when I’m excited?

My sales demon assumes everyone else on this call is equally pumped.
(Plot twist: they’re not.)

👹 She speaks at warp speed.
+ the Russian accent, so nobody even knows what’s going on.

👹She doesn’t ask questions. 
Because who has time for discovery when you’re selling the most exciting product in the world?

👹 She is an unapologetic pitch-slap queen.
Hot take: no regrets. I’d rather be direct than fake-build a relationship.

Sales friend, what sins has YOUR sales demon committed? Let’s make this one fun.

P.S. If you’re wondering whether my sales demon is real… 👹 
These were the actual messages she sent yesterday morning to her boss. Thank God Samy Waiche is very patient with me. 😅

Stoked to announce the launch of our AI co-pilot Aura!!!

A fun fact about Subscribfy: we have wayyyy more data scientists on the team than sales & marketing reps.

We've always been a data-first company, and we're very excited to take the next step into the AI revolution. 

We will be sharing more in the coming days & weeks about what Aura does. 

If you want a sneak peak, DM me!

LFG 🚀

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